A South Texas Adventure with Nature Trip - Texas bird watching trip report

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Jiffy (also jiff)

noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.

ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.

So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.

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E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.

Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.

A South Texas Adventure - Day 1

Travel to Corpus Christi.

Meeting Point: Corpus Christi International Airport

Arrive in time for pre-arranged transport to the hotel and a group welcome dinner.

For those that arrive in the morning or afternoon there is good birding near the hotel. Depending on airport schedules there are many options along the shore of the Laguna Madre or one of the nearby Oak Mots.

I will spend the whole day with bird watching as I arrived yesterday

Sunday 16 ^th of April 2023 and as we have advanced the clock by two hours between San Francisco and Texas so I woke up at 6 o'clock, 4 o'clock San Francisco time. My alarm went off at 4 but I was simply too tired to get out of bed.

I can't say that I was very surprised when the Lyft driver did not show up at 9 o'clock as we had agreed on yesterday. So, I booked a new Lyft car to take me to the eBird hotspot: Packery Channel Park. I checked out the area around the Executive Residency by Best Western Corpus Christi while waiting for the car.

I got pictures of the Great-tailed Grackle that I had spotted for the first time in my life at the airport yesterday. I also made a recording, but there is to many cars passing on the road so I sent the recording to the trash.

eBird Report

Great-tailed Grackle

Great-tailed Grackle

Great-tailed Grackle

The Lyft car arrives and we are soon on the way to Packery Channel Park and I start the eBird app at 09:33. I discover a board walk going out over the marsh and I see that there is a lot of bird watchers in the area.

And there were many new birds for me and I was lucky to have all the other bird watchers on the board walk and I got plenty help to ID the birds. I spoke with a couple and they were from California and I told them that I was here to join Nature Trips from San Francisco.

They knew the guide and he had just left the board walk and the asked me if I wanted them to call him. I said no thanks as I will meet them later on tonight.

I told them about the Baltimore Oriole that I spotted in Sweden back in February and they were surprised. I told them that there were people from all over Europe to come to see the bird.

Oriole

Eastern Kingbird

Eastern Kingbird

Eastern Kingbird

Blue Grosbeak

Couch's Kingbird

Couch's Kingbird

Couch's Kingbird

Couch's Kingbird

Couch's Kingbird

Couch's Kingbird

Indigo Bunting

Indigo Bunting

Indigo Bunting

The last bird was an Indigo Bunting and it was far away and it came closer when it took off. B now I was alone and the bird took off again but this time it came towards me and landed next to me.

I was very happy with my first stop, a couple of beautiful and new birds. Of course, the pictures leave a little to wish for.

eBird Report

Today's track at Packery Channel Park

I book a car on the Lyft app and I will go to Port Aransas, the north end of Padre Island and the eBird hotspot: Holt Paradise Pond. It was a 40 US Dollar ride so it took a while to reach m destination. I could start my eBird app at 11:27.

I was not surprised to see Great-tailed Grackles and Laughing Gulls when I reached m destination. There was of course Common Starlings as well.

eBird hotspot: Holt Paradise Pond

eBird hotspot: Holt Paradise Pond

Listen to the Great-tailed Grackle

Sound from www.xeno-canto.org

Remarks from the Recordist

Recorded with my ZOOM H5 Handy Recorder and High Pass Filter applied with Audacity.

Sitting in a tree just 2 meters from me. Other grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds in the Background.

Sound from www.xeno-canto.org

Remarks from the Recordist

Recorded with my ZOOM H5 Handy Recorder and High Pass Filter applied with Audacity.

Sitting in a tree just 2 meters from me. Other grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds in the Background.

There is a board walk and the first thing I do is to try to record a Great-tailed Grackle but the wind is too strong. I continue on the board walk and there are quite a few bird watchers.

I see Red-winged Blackbirds and Great-tailed Grackles but there is not much of photo opportunities as the birds sitting in the trees. There were two bird watchers that had seen grosbeaks and orioles in one of the trees they were looking at.

No sign of a birds so I continued and I spotted one Rose-breasted Grosbeak and the bird was sitting on a branch looking away. But I was very lucky and the bird turned around showing the beautiful front and I could get a picture.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Sparrow feeding young

Board walk is closed

Sparrow feeding young

I am getting hungry and I had passed a restaurant walking here so I decided to go have a look at their menu. I spot a red bird in one of the bushes and it turns out to be a Scarlet Tanager, a gorgeous bird.

All the male Great-tailed Grackles are at the pond singing their hearts out, never spotted any female in there. Coming out from the pond and there were several female Great-tailed Grackles sitting on the fence. And they have garbage containers at the back of the restaurant I am going to and there was a lot of Laughing Gulls.

I had seen 2 new birds that I had never seen before at the Holt Paradise Pond:
1) Rose-breasted Grosbeak
2) Scarlet Tanager

Scarlet Tanager

Scarlet Tanager

Scarlet Tanager

Scarlet Tanager

Female Great-tailed Grackle

Female Great-tailed Grackle

Laughing Gull

Laughing Gull

eBird Report

Today's track at Holt Paradise Pond

Lunch time

I turn off my eBird app and I step inside the restaurant and it turns out to be a Mexican restaurant. But they have tea and a hamburger without bread and fries. I tried to get avocado, which was no problem, but it was a lot of problem to get 4 avocados and it took a lot of time to wait and plates going in and out from the kitchen.

I finished my meal and I booked a Lyft car, but as I am far away from Corpus Christi there was no car available. I searched the internet for a taxi company but nothing. I found one of the locals and she gave me the number to the local taxi company and I had to wait for 20 minutes ++ for the taxi. So, I was way later than I had expected by the time I left Port Aransas behind

I will check out one more area before returning to the hotel and it will be Suter Wildlife Refuge and it is pretty close to the hotel. We made a stop at a convenient store to buy refreshments and we took off towards Corpus Christi.

Walking down to the board walk

Walking down to the board walk

The first bird I spotted was a Northern Mockingbird singing in a tree next to the taxi when I got out of the taxi. Second bird was a lonely Osprey sitting in a dead tree.

There is a board walk going down to a platform on the water front. Walking along a canal and there were plenty Blue-winged Teals and American Coots. There was also one Brown Pelican and I got a picture.

Walking along the canal and you could only see the water at two areas as there was high reed between the canal and the board walk.

Blue-winged Teal / Blåvingad Årta

Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican

eBird Report

Suter Wildlife Refuge (CTC 069), Nueces, Texas, US
Apr 16, 2023 13:45 - 14:18
Protocol: Traveling
0.73 kilometer(s)
8 species

Blue-winged Teal 17
American Coot 3
Laughing Gull 2
Brown Pelican 3
Great Blue Heron 4
Osprey 1
Barn Swallow 7
Northern Mockingbird 1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S134003233

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)

Today's track at the eBird hotspot: Suter Wildlife Refuge

I booked a Lyft car and next stop is the Executive Residency by Best Western Corpus Christi and I will spend the rest of the day in my hotel room. I will take off to the tour tomorrow morning, but it is strange, I have got no news about time to meet

We were supposed to meet tonight but nothing, well, I will see tomorrow. You just need to click HERE to find out if we see any birds.

eBird Trip Report

Since April 2023 eBird offer a new feature, to create Trip Reports. At least this is when I first heard of this feature and I have decided to make the eBird Trip Reports instead of my list of OBSERVED birds.

And of course, this also means that I will HAVE TO go back and do the same for my old birding adventures, WHEN I HAVE THE TIME!

Today's Trip Report: Southern Texas bird watching tour with Nature Trip - Day 1 | Click HERE

Download | PDF

Lifers
Icons for lifers used in the eBird trip reports

Species lifer:First time that someone observes a species in their life

Photo lifer:First time that someone photographs a species in their life

Audio lifer:First time that someone audio records a species in their life

Exotic species
Exotic species flags differentiate locally introduced species from native species.

Naturalized:Exotic population is self-sustaining, breeding in the wild, persisting for many years, and not maintained through ongoing releases (including vagrants from Naturalized populations). These count in official eBird totals and, where applicable, have been accepted by regional bird records committee(s).

Provisional:Either: 1)member of exotic population that is breeding in the wild, self-propagating, and has persisted for multiple years, but not yet Naturalized; 2)rarity of uncertain provenance, with natural vagrancy or captive provenance both considered plausible.

When applicable, eBird generally defers to bird records committees for records formally considered to be of "uncertain provenance". Provisional species count in official eBird totals.

Escapee:Exotic species known or suspected to be escaped or released, including those that have
bred but don't yet fulfill the criteria for Provisional. Escapee exotics do not count in official eBird totals.

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